GOD    4-    +    4-    +    +    ^ilA''ciH-y/]-rS 


+  AND  LITTLE 
+    +    CHILDREN 


>>i.- 


;1^^>:V_  '■■■ 


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OD  AND  LITTLE  CHILDRExN: 

THE  BLESSED  STATE  OF  ALL 
WHO  DIE  IN  CHILDHOOD  PROVED 
AND  TAUGHT'  AS  A  PART  OF  THE 
GOSPEL    OF    CHRIST. 


BY 

HENRY   VAN   DYKE, 

AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  REALITY  OF 
RELIGION,"  "the  STORY  OF  THE 
PSALMS,"  ETC. 


PUBLISHED  BY  ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH 
AND  CO.,  38  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD 
STREET,  NEW    YORK. 


Copyright,  rSgo, 
By  Anson  D.  F.  Randolph  and  Company. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


€o  iSs  Hottjcr 

IN    MEMORY  OF 

HER    CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN 

FROM   ONE  OF 

HER  CHILDREN   ON    EARTH 


PREFACE. 


TJicse  sermons  were  not  written  for  the 
press,  bnt  for  the  pulpit,  amid  the  inces- 
sant cares  and  labours  of  a  pastor's  life. 
Eve?t  for  the  correction  of  the  inamiscript 
and  the  reading  of  the  proofs  it  has  been 
necessary  for  me  to  rely  on  the  kindness 
of  friends,  which  I  here  acknowledge  with 
gratitude. 

The  same  reasons  wJiich  led  to  the  preach- 
ing of  the  sermons  have  made  me  consent  to 
tJieir  printing,  —  a  desire  to  bear  strong  and 
clear  witness  against  a  falsehood  that  has 
kept  many  men  from  loving  God,  and  a  still 
deeper  desire  to  testify  to  the  abundant  grace 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  and  to  bring  a  sure  consolation 
to  those  who  are  in  sorrow  for  the  death  of 


vi  Preface. 

little  children.  The  dark  old  dream  of  the 
perdition  of  infatits  has  ijideed  begun  to 
fade,  long  since,  from  tJie  soicl  of  Christen- 
dom, and  the  hope  of  their  salvation  has 
gro'W7i  brighter  and  more  clear  from  year  to 
year  ;  but  there  is  still  room  a?td  need  for  a 
book  to  prove  that  the  black  visio7i  is  utterly 
baseless,  and  that  the  bright  hope  is  altogether 
reasonable,  since  it  rests  upon  the  same  foim- 
dation  as  Christianity  itself.  And  this,  in 
brief,  is  what  I  desire  to  do :  to  show  that 

NO   CHILDREN  LOST, 
ALL    CHILDREN  SAVED, 

is  as  true  as  Gospel. 

There  are  many  things  left  out  of  this 
book  for  want  of  space.  But  one  omission, 
I  feel  q2iitc  stirc,  will  attract  attention  and 
comment.  There  is  no  attempt  in  these  ser- 
mons to  fix  the  age  at  which  childhood  cjtds 
and  moral  discretion  begins.  This  omis- 
sion is  made  on  purpose,  and  simply  because 
I  do  not  know  what  that  age  is.  Human 
laws  recognize  the  distinction  between  child- 


Preface.  vii 

hood  and  maturity y  but  they  differ  greatly 
in  the  period  at  which  they  determine  ac- 
countability. Indeed,  it  is  Jiardly  a  matter 
which  can  be  reckoned  in  years*  And  one 
thing  is  certain,  —  God  will  be  not  less,  but 
more.  Just  and  merciful  than  man,  in  recog- 
nizing Jus  little  cJiildren  and  dealing  gently 
with  them,  being  mindful  of  their  ignorance 
and  weakness. 

HENRY  VAN  DYKE. 
New  York  City, 

Feb.  3,  1890. 


THE   INVISIBLE  SERVICE. 

It  is  no  little  thing,  when  a  fresh  soul 

And  a  fresh  heart,  with  their  unmeasured  scope 

For  good,  not  gravitating  earthward  yet, 

But  circling  in  diviner  periods, 

Are  sent  into  the  world,  —  no  little  thing, 

When  this  unbounded  possibility 

Into  the  outer  silence  is  withdrawn. 

Ah,  in  this  world,  where  every  guiding  thread 

Ends  suddenly  in  the  one  sure  centre,  death, 

The  visionary  hand  of  Might-have-been 

Alone  can  fill  Desire's  cup  to  the  brim  ! 

How  changed,  dear  friend,  are  thy  part  and  thy 

child's  ! 
He  bends  above  thy  cradle  now,  or  holds 
His  warning  finger  out  to  be  thy  guide ; 
Thou  art  the  nursling  now;  he  watches  thee 
Slow  learning,  one  by  one,  the  secret  things 
Which  are  to  him  used  sights  of  every  day ; 
He  smiles  to  see  thy  wondering  glances  con 
The  grass  and  pebbles  of  the  spirit  world, 
To  thee  miraculous  ;  and  he  will  teach 
Thy  knees  their  due  observances  of  prayer. 


lO  TJic  Invisible  Service. 

Children  are  God's  apostles,  day  by  day 

Sent  forth  to  preach  of  love,  and  hope,  and  peace ; 

Nor  hath  thy  babe  his  mission  left  undone. 

To  me,  at  least,  his  going  hence  hath  given 

Serener  thoughts  and  nearer  to  the  skies, 

And  opened  a  new  fountain  in  my  heart 

For  thee,  my  friend,  and  all :  and  oh,  if  Death 

More  near  approaches  meditates,  and  clasps 

Even  now  some  dearer,  more  reluctant  hand, 

God,  strengthen  thou  my  faith,  that  I  may  see 

That  'tis  thine  angel,  who,  with  loving  haste, 

Unto  the  service  of  the  inner  shrine 

Doth  waken  thy  beloved  with  a  kiss. 

James  Russell  Lowell. 
From  Lities  on  the  Death  of  a  Friend^ s  Child. 


No  CljilDrtn  Host 


I. 

^nti  it  came  to  pass,  on  tlje  scbentfj  tiag,  tf)at 
tje  d}ilti  tiicti.  —  2Sam.  xii.  i8. 

A  ND  then  what  became  of  the  child? 
-^  -^^  Whither  did  the  young  spirit  fly? 
In  what  estate  did  the  infant  soul  find 
itself  when  the  last  quivering  breath  had 
passed  the  lips  and  the  tiny  heart  was 
lying  still? 

This  is  the  question  which  rises  to  meet 
us  at  the  death-bed  of  a  child.  It  is  the 
cry  of  the  immortal  love  and  tenderness 
by  which  God  has  bound  the  souls  of 
parents  to  their  children.  David  asked 
it  in  his  grief  three  thousand  years  ago ; 
and  since  then  how  many  millions  of 
men  and  women,  looking  down  through 
their  tears  upon  a  silent  little  face,  have 
murmured  to   themselves,  "  Where  is   my 


14  No  Children  Lost. 

darling  now?"  Nor  will  it  cease  to  be 
repeated  while  there  is  a  true  mother's 
heart  beating  in  this  world,  or  a  father's 
spirit  which  retains  one  trace  of  the  like- 
ness of  God's  paternal  love. 

But  we  must  not  imagine  for  a  moment 
that  this  question  has  no  wider  meaning, 
no  weightier  import,  than  that  which  is 
given  to  it  by  our  personal  affections.  It 
is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  central  questions  of 
religion.  It  touches  the  justice  and  the 
goodness  of  the  Divine  Being.  It  affects 
more  broadly  than  any  other  inquiry  the 
ultimate  destiny  of  the  human  race,  of 
which  the  greater  part  dies  in  childhood. 
We  are  facing  a  question  of  immense  im- 
portance when  we  ask  what  becomes  of 
the  little  children  when  they  die.  It  is  time 
for  us  to  take  up  the  subject  and  consider 
it  carefully.  It  is  time  for  us  to  meet  with 
candour  the  issues  which  are  involved  in 
it.  It  is  time  for  us  to  go  to  the  bottom 
of  the  subject,  and  make  up  our  minds 
what  the   Word  of  God  and  the  religion 


No  Children  Lost.  15 

of  Jesus  Christ  teach  us  to  beheve  about 
it.  And  this  is  what  I  shall  try  to  do, 
praying  for  light  to  discern  the  truth,  and 
courage  to  speak  it  out,  and  skill  to  make 
it  plain  and  straight  and  clear  beyond  the 
chance  of  mistake. 

There  are  three,  and  only  three,  possi- 
ble answers  to  the  question,  What  becomes 
of  those  who  die  in  infancy? 

They  are  all  lost. 

Some  of  them  are  lost  and  some  saved. 

They  are  all  saved. 

The  first  answer  we  may  pass  without 
notice ;  for,  so  far  as  I  know,  it  has  never 
been  accepted  by  Christian  people,  and  it 
is  not  necessary  for  us  to  waste  our  time 
wandering  in  the  absolute  darkness  of 
heathendom  or  materialism.  The  second 
answer,  which  divides  the  little  children 
at  death  into  two  classes,  and  sends  one 
class  to  heaven  and  the  other  class  to  hell, 
has  undoubtedly  been  given  by  a  great 
many  people  whose  Christianity,  to  say 
the  least,  was  sincere   and  honest.     This 


1 6  No  Children  Lost. 

is  the  doctrine  which  we  shall  consider  in 
this  sermon.  I  want  to  prove  two  things 
in  regard  to  it:  First,  that  it  has  been 
taught  by  men  in  almost  every  part  of 
the  Christian  Church,  from  the  fourth 
to  the  eighteenth  century;  Second,  that 
it  is  certainly  false,  and  that  it  is  equally 
against  reason  and  revelation  to  believe 
that  there  are  any  infants  in  hell. 

I.  It  has  been  audaciously  asserted  and 
commonly  believed  that  the  doctrine  of 
the  perdition  of  infants  originated  with 
those  theologians  who  are  called  Calvin- 
ists,  and  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  is 
peculiarly  responsible  for  it.  Never  was 
there  a  more  ignorant  assertion,  never  an 
assumption  more  at  variance  with  the 
facts. 

It  has  been  piously  claimed,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  Calvinistic  theology 
has  never  recognized  this  doctrine,  and 
that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  kept 
itself  entirely  free  from  the  shadow  of  it. 
Never  was  there  a  claim  made  with  more 


No  Children  Lost.  17 

amiable    intentions    and    less    substantial 
proofs. 

The  simple  truth  is,  —  and,  after  all,  the 
truth  is  what  we  want,  —  that  the  responsi- 
bility for  this  doctrine  rests,  not  upon  any 
one  branch  of  the  Church,  but  upon  theo- 
logians at  large,  from  Saint  Augustine  down 
to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Here  and  there  you  will  find  men  who 
were  bold  enough  to  deny  and  disavow 
it;  but  everywhere  you  will  find  men 
who  not  only  accepted  but  taught  it. 
That  is  the  amazing  fact.  You  will  not 
discover  those  dreadful  words,  "  Hell  is 
paved  with  infants*  skulls,"  in  the  works 
of  any  ancient  writer.  It  is  merely  a 
waste  of  time  to  try  to  run  that  gray- 
headed  falsehood  to  earth.  But  you 
will  have  no  trouble  in  finding  theories 
and  statements  which  imply  or  declare 
that  some  infants  pass  through  death 
into  perdition,  in  the  writings  of  Roman 
Catholics,  Lutherans,  Presbyterians,  and 
Episcopalians. 


1 8  No  Children  Lost 

Let  us  free  our  minds  of  cant;  let  us 
lay  aside  our  prejudices,  and  examine  the 
record  fairly.  You  will  naturally  demand 
the  proof  of  such  a  startling  assertion,  and 
you  shall  have  it  as  briefly  and  as  clearly 
as  possible. 

We  may  begin  with  Roman  Catholic 
theologians.  First  comes  St.  Augustine, 
who  was  justly  called  dimes  pater  infan- 
tum, —  '*  the  hard  father  of  infants."  He 
teaches  that  infants  who  die  without  bap- 
tism are  lost;  and  though  their  punish- 
ment be  of  a  milder  sort  than  that  of 
those  who  have  added  actual  to  original 
sin,  they  are  finally  excluded  from  the 
presence  of  God.  Peter  Lombard,  in  the 
twelfth  century,  puts  the  same  doctrine 
very  concisely  when  he  says :  "  For  origi- 
nal sin,  which  is  derived  from  the  parents, 
infants  will  be  damned."  ^  Tirinus,  the 
Jesuit,  writing  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
declares :  "  In  the  other  life  original  sin  — 

1  Lombard :  Sentat.  L.  II.  Quoted  by  Krauth: 
Infant  Salvation,  p.  68. 


No  Children  Lost.  19 

for  example,  in  the  case  of  infants  who  by 
it  are  unfitted  for  that  hfe  —  is  punished 
eternally ;  .  .  .  they  are  in  prison,  light  and 
pleasant  indeed,  yet  of  the  nature  of  hell, 
in  which,  under  the  power  of  the  Devil, 
they  dwell  to  eternity."  The  canons  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  which  still  stand  as 
an  authoritative  declaration  of  the  faith 
of  the  Church,  teach  :  '*  If  any  one  denies 
that  new-born  children  must  be  baptized, 
or  says  that  they  do  not  derive  from 
Adam  anything  of  original  sin  which 
makes  the  laver  of  regeneration  neces- 
sary to  cleanse  them  for  an  entrance  into 
everlasting  life,  let  him  be  accursed. "  ^ 
Such  is  the  teaching  of  the  Romish 
fathers. 

Turn  now  to  the  Reformers.  Take  first 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  drawn  up  by  the 

1  Schaff :  Creeds  of  Christendom,  vol.  ii.  p.  86.  See 
also  the  Roman  Catechism,  par.  ii.  cap=  ii.  Quaest.  25. 
"  Unless  they  are  born  again  by  the  divine  grace  of  bap- 
tism, they  are  brought  forth  by  their  parents,  whether 
they  are  believers  or  unbelievers,*for  eternal  misery  and 
perdition." 


20  No  Children  Lost. 

gentle  Philip  Melanchthon,  —  the  earliest 
doctrinal  statement  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
It  distinctly  condemns  all  those  who  affirm 
that  children  may  be  saved  without  bap- 
tism :  "  Damnant  Anabaptistas,  qui  impro- 
bant  Baptismum  puerorum,  et  affirmant 
pueros,  sine  Baptismo,  salvos  fieri."  ^ 

Following  straight  along  this  line  we 
find  the  good  Bishop  Cranmer,  of  the 
English  Church,  saying  in  his  Catechism : 
*'  If  we  should  have  heathen  parents  and 
die  without  baptism,  we  should  be  damned 
everlastingly."  This  was  substantially  the 
view  of  that  branch  of  the  Reformation 
which  still  held  to  sacramentarian  doc- 
trines and  insisted  upon  baptismal  regen- 
eration. Turning  to  the  other  branch, 
we  find  its  theologians  asserting  distinctly 
that  infants  may  be  saved  without  baptism. 
But  on  what  ground  ?  On  the  ground  of 
a  secret  election  of  God  which  assigns 
some  to  heaven  and  others  to  hell. 

Listen    to    John    Calvin :     "  When    the 

1  Confess.  August.,  part  i.  art.  ix. 


No  Children  Lost.  21 

Lord  rejects  the  godless  man,  with  his 
offspring,  there  is  certainly  no  expostu- 
lation which  we  can  make  with  God.  .  .  . 
This,  therefore,  is  to  be  held  for  certain, 
that  all  who  are  destitute  of  the  grace  of 
God  are  included  under  the  sentence  of 
eternal  death;  whence  it  follows  that  the 
children  of  the  reprobate,  whom  the  curse 
of  God  follows,  are  subject  to  the  same 
sentence."^  "Who  will  not  adore  this 
wonderful  judgment  of  God,  whereby  it 
comes  to  pass  that  some  are  born  at  Je- 
rusalem, whence  they  soon  pass  to  a  better 
life,  while  Sodom,  the  gate  of  the  lower 
regions,  receives  others  at  their  birth?  "^ 
"  How  comes  it  that  the  fall  of  Adam  has 
involved  so  many  nations,  with  their  in- 
fant children,  in  eternal  death,  without 
remedy,  unless  because  it  pleased  God? 
I  confess  that  the  decree  is  horrible;  but 
none    can   deny   that   God    foreknew    the 

1  On  Isaiah  xiv.  21. 

2  J.  Calvini  Opera.      Brunsvigae,   1870.     vol.  viii.   p. 
309.     De  /Eterna  Dei  Predestinatione. 


22  No  Children  Lost. 

end  of  every  man  before  creating  him, 
and  foreknew  it  because  he  ordained  it 
so."i 

And  then  hear  Cocceius  of  Holland  and 
Molinaeus  of  France,  two  great  doctors  of 
the  seventeenth  century:  "Elect  infants 
are  not  conceived  and  born  as  are  the 
children  of  the  Gentiles,  concerning  whom 
the  presumption  is  certain  that  they  with 
their  mother's  milk  drink  in  godlessness 
unto  destruction."  ^  ''  As  the  eggs  of  the 
asp  are  deservedly  crushed,  and  serpents 
just  born  are  deservedly  killed,  though 
they  have  not  yet  poisoned  any  one  with 
their  bite,  so  infants  are  justly  obnoxious 
to  penalties."^ 

Finally,  hear  the  Rev.  Dr.  Twiss,  Pro- 
locutor of  the  Westminster  Assembly: 
*'  Many  infants  depart  from  this  life  in 
original  sin,  and  consequently  are  con- 
demned  to    eternal   death    on    account   of 

1  Instit ,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxiii.  §  7. 

2  Catechis.  Palat.,  Quaest.  Ixxiv. 
^  Anat.  Armiiiiaiiisnii,  p.  2. 


No  CJiildrciL  Lost.  23 

original  sin  alone;  therefore  from  the  sole 
transgression  of  Adam  condemnation  to 
eternal  death  has  followed  upon  many 
infants."  ^ 

But  you  are  not  to  suppose  that  these 
teachings  were  confined  to  the  books  of 
divinity  and  sermons.  They  are  to  be 
found  also  in  more  popular  literature. 
From  this  source  we  may  take  two  char- 
acteristic examples.  One  is  from  the  great 
Catholic  poet  Dante.  He  is  entering  the 
first  circle  of  the  Inferno ;  and  there  he 
hears  the  air  trembling  with  the  sighs  of 
many  infants  and  women  and  men.  His 
guide  says  to  him :  — 

"  Thou  dost  not  ask 
What  spirits  these  may  be  which  thou  beholdest : 
Now  will  I  have  thee  know,  ere  thou  go  farther, 
That  they  sinned  not ;  and  if  they  merit  had, 
'T  is  not  enough,  because  they  had  not  Baptism, 
Which  is  the  portal  of  the  Faith  thou  boldest."  ^ 

The  other  is  from  a  small  Puritan  poet, 
by  name  Michael  Wigglesworth,  of  Massa- 

1  Vindiciae,  vol.  i.  p.  48. 

2  Inferno,  book  iv.,  Longfellow's  Translation. 


24  No  Children  Lost, 

chusetts.  He  is  describing  the  Last  Judg- 
ment, and  brings  the  reprobate  infants 
before  the  bar  of  justice.  They  plead  for 
pardon,  but  the  Judge  rephes :  — 

"  You  sinners  are  ;  and  such  a  share 

as  sinners  may  expect, 
Such  you  shall  have,  for  I  do  save 

none  but  mine  own  Elect. 
Yet  to  compare  your  sin  with  their 

who  lived  a  longer  time, 
I  do  confess,  yours  is  much  less, 

though  every  sin  's  a  crime. 
A  Crime  it  is  ;  therefore  in  bliss 

you  may  not  hope  to  dwell ; 
But  unto  you  I  shall  allow 

the  easiest  room  in  Hell."  ^ 

Criticism  upon  these  verses  would  be 
superfluous.  But  I  think  you  will  agree 
with  me  in  saying  that  the  man  who  could 
spend  his  time  in  carefully  fitting  such 
sentiments  as  these  into  a  tripping  metre 
and  a  double  rhyme  must  have  been  a 
man,  to  use  Dr.  Johnson's  phrase,  ''  little 
to  be  envied." 

"  But  for  what  reason,"  some  one  may 

1  The  Day  of  Doom,  1662. 


No  CJiildrcn  Lost,  25 

ask,  "  have  you  been  at  pains  to  collect 
these  various  and  terrific  utterances  of  so 
many  men  upon  this  subject?"  There 
are  two  good  reasons.  First,  in  order  to 
show  clearly  that  this  old  doctrine  of  the 
perdition  of  infants  is  not  a  sectarian  af- 
fair, not  a  thing  to  be  treated  as  if  it  be- 
longed to  any  particular  age  or  any  one 
set  of  Christians,  but  that  the  responsi- 
bility for  it  is  very  widely  distributed,  and 
that  we  are  bound  in  honour  to  consider 
it  in  an  atmosphere  that  is  clear  and 
free  from  all  denominational  bitterness 
and  strife.  Second,  in  order  that  we  may 
understand  clearly  what  it  was  that  led 
men  to  hold  and  teach  it.  It  was  the 
subtle  pride  of  intellect,  the  vain  desire 
of  absolute  logical  consistency.  Starting 
with  the  most  opposite  premises,  they  felt 
bound  to  carry  them  out  to  the  bitter  end, 
no  matter  what  it  might  be.  Beginning, 
on  the  one  hand,  with  the  statement  that 
baptism  is  absolutely  necessary  to  salva- 
tion, they  went  straight  on  to  the  conclu- 


26  No  Children  Lost. 

sion  that  unbaptized  infants  must  be  lost. 
Breaking  away  at  the  Reformation  from 
that  chain  of  error,  they  fell  into  another 
no  less  heavy,  no  less  of  iron.  Setting 
out  with  the  statement  that  God  for  his 
own  glory  predestines  some  men  to  ever- 
lasting death,  they  went  straight  on  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  harmless,  new- 
born children  of  Sodom  are  precipitated 
at  death  into  perdition. 

But  were  not  the  men  who  taught  this 
great  men,  and  learned  men,  and  mighty 
men?  Were  they  not  very  giants  of  logic, 
their  little  fingers  thicker  than  the  loins  of 
the  men  of  to-day?  Yea,  verily,  and  he 
would  be  over-bold  who  went  out  against 
them  in  his  own  strength.  But  do  you 
remember  another  giant  who  stood  forth 
as  a  champion,  boasting  that  none  could 
overthrow  him?  And  do  you  remember 
a  shepherd  lad,  who  dared  to  face  him 
with  a  sling  and  a  smooth  stone  from  the 
brook?  There  is  an  armoury  which  God 
has  furnished  for  all  who  would  withstand 


A^o  Children  Lost.  27 

giants  in  His  name.  You  may  reach  your 
hand  down  into  the  brook  of  Hving  water 
that  flows  in  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ. 
I'Vom  those  cool  depths  you  take  a  stone, 
clear  and  strong,  and  precious  as  a  dia- 
mond; and  full  against  the  forehead  of 
whatever  giant  says  that  dying  infants  are 
damned,  you  send  this  answer:  ''Even  so 
it  is  not  the  will  of  your  FatJier  which  is  in 
heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should 
peris  hy 

Yes,  that  is  the  simple  and  mighty 
truth.  Hundreds  and  even  thousands  of 
learned  and  subtle  doctors  may  have 
taught  the  possible  perdition  of  infants. 
Poets  great  and  small  may  have  embalmed 
the  doctrine  in  their  verse,  like  a  fly  in 
amber  or  a  toad  in  mud.  But  for  all  that 
it  is  false.  The  Church  to-day  refuses  to 
believe  it;  all  Christendom  to-day  rejects 
it,  and  casts  it  out.^     You  and  I  turn  from 

-  1  Except  possibly  the  strict  Romanist  {vide  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  "  The  Faith  of  our  Fathers,"  pp.  310-316)  and 
the  ultra-Calvinist. 


28  No  CJiildren  Lost. 

it,  and  deny  it.  And  why?  By  what  power 
has  the  heart  of  Christendom  been  strength- 
ened to  expel  this  doctrine  ?  By  the  power 
of  the  pure  Word  of  God  overcoming  the 
deadly  logic  of  the  schools.  By  what 
authority  do  we  decline  to  believe  that 
there  is  a  single  infant  in  perdition?  By 
the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  has 
enlightened  our  hearts  to  know  and  trust 
a  holy  and  just  and  loving  God. 

II.  Come,  then,  and  let  us  understand 
exactly  where  we  stand  upon  this  question, 
and  what  is  the  strength  of  our  position. 
It  is  not  merely  an  amiable  repugnance  to 
believe  what  is  unpleasant;  it  is  rather  an 
absolute  refusal  to  believe  what  is  unscrip- 
tural  and  unchristian.  It  is  not  merely  a 
protest  of  the  affections  against  a  harsh 
doctrine;  it  is  a  protest  of  the  faith 
against  a  false  doctrine.  And  we  propose 
to  set  in  order  some  of  the  reasons  why 
we  do  not  and  will  not  believe  it. 

(i)  The  doctrine  of  the  perdition  of 
infants   is  false,  because  there   is   nothing 


No  Children  Lost.  29 

in  the  Word  of  God  to  support  it.  Scarcli 
the  Scriptures  from  beginning  to  end,  and 
you  will  not  find  a  single  word,  a  single 
syllable,  which  implies  that  children  are 
to  be  sent  into  everlasting  death. 

But  some  one  will  say,  "  What,  then, 
do  you  make  of  the  command  which  was 
given  to  the  Israelites  to  destroy  the  chil- 
dren of  Amalek?  How  do  you  explain 
that?"  We  do  not  explain  it.  We  sim- 
ply deny  that  it  has  anything  to  do  with 
the  question.  For  even  if  you  admit  that 
such  a  command  came  from  God  instead 
of  from  the  hearts  of  half-enlightened  men, 
the  death  of  little  children  amid  the  cruel- 
ties of  ancient  war  no  more  justifies  us  in 
thinking  that  God  would  cast  them  into 
perdition,  than  the  fact  that  your  child  had 
burned  his  hand  in  the  fire  that  glows  on 
your  hearth  would  be  a  proof  that  you 
were  willing  to  shut  him  up  in  a  fiery 
prison  forever. 

"  But  then,"  the  objector  may  continue, 
•'  what  do  you  say  to  the  declaration  that 


30  No  Children  Lost. 

the  sins  of  the  parents  shall  be  visited 
upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation?"  We  say  that  you 
have  stopped  short  in  the  middle  of  the 
quotation.  For  how  does  it  read?  **  The 
sins  of  the  fatJiers  tipon  the  cJiildren  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  them 
that  hate  me!'  Only  where  the  hatred 
against  God  continues,  and  works,  and 
utters  itself  in  wickedness,  does  the  di- 
vine anger  rest.  Not  upon  the  helpless 
and  harmless  babe,  not  upon  the  little 
children  born  in  the  homes  of  ignorance 
and  vice ;  for  them  the  good  God  has  only 
the  tenderest  pity  and  compassion.  The 
very  fact  that  they  are  involved,  without 
their  fault,  without  their  choice,  in  the  pain 
and  trouble  of  a  sin-cursed  world,  is  a 
mystery  of  hope  in  the  darkness  of  their 
death.  For  out  of  a  world  in  which  the 
harmless  are  tangled  in  the  net  v/ith  the 
guilty,  they  pass  into  the  presence  of  that 
God  who  is  plenteous  in  mercy,  and  who 
is  not  willing  that  one  of  these  little  ones 


No  Children  Lost.  31 

should  perish.     Shall  He  not  recompense 
them  for  the  brief  sorrows  of  then"  mor- 
tal  life?      I  tell   you,  the  world  to  come 
would  have   no   meaning,  the   future   l.fe 
would  be  a  vain  and  empty  delusion,  .f  it 
did  not  contain  the  promise  of  deliverance 
for  helpless   sufferers.     And   I   challenge 
any  one  to  find  a  single  word  .n  the  B.ble 
which  teaches  that  the  sorrows  falling  upon 
little   children   in   this  world   of  sin   and 
shame  are  continued  for  one  instant  after 
the  angel  of  death  has  set  their  sp.nts  free 
to  enter  the  world  of  light. 

(2)   But  this  argument  is  only  negative, 
and  we  must  pass  on  at  once  to  the  second 

point,  which  is  positive.     The  doctrme  o 
the  perdition  of  infants  is  false,  because  it 
is  condemned  by  natural  justice. 

This  is  an  argument  which  needs  to  be 
used  with  caution,  and  with  an  impUct 
understanding  of  those  hmitations  and 
conditions  which  people  of  inteUigence 
always  take  for  granted  in  the  simple  state- 
ment of  a  broad  and  general  principle.     It 


32  No  CJiildrcn  Lost. 

is  not  to  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that 
everything  which  we  cannot  see  to  be  right 
must  therefore  be  wrong.  It  is  not  to  be 
assumed  for  a  moment  that  our  human 
sense  of  justice  is  perfect  and  infaUible, 
or  that  we  are  acquainted  with  all  the  con- 
siderations which  enter  into  the  judgment 
of  God. 

But  there  is,  in  spite  of  all  ignorance 
and  defect,  a  perception  of  equity  in  the 
human  soul  which  corresponds  to  the  attri- 
bute of  righteousness  in  God.  And  this 
is  what  we  affirm:  the  more  highly  this 
moral  sense  is  educated,  the  more  clearly 
and  unequivocally  does  it  reluctate  against 
the  notion  that  God  will  condemn  the  soul 
of  one  little  child  to  everlasting  death, 
either  on  account  of  the  guilt  of  Adam's 
sin,  or  on  account  of  the  neglect  of  its 
parents  to  have  it  baptized. 

For  here,  mark  you,  we  are  not  con- 
sidering the  operations  of  Providence, 
in  which  there  must  be  inscrutable  mys- 
teries, since   they  proceed    upon    general 


No  Children  Lost.  33 

laws  too  large  for  our  comprehension ; 
nor  are  we  discussing  the  methods  and 
means  of  divine  justice  in  the  present 
transitory  state  of  things,  in  which  we 
know  that  the  tares  cannot  be  separated 
from  the  wheat,  and  in  which  we  are  con- 
scious of  suffering  brought  upon  us  by 
the  voluntary  transgression  or  the  careless 
neglect  of  others.  All  that  goes  without 
saying.  But  now  we  are  looking  onward 
to  the  final  result  of  the  divine  justice ;  and 
the  one  thought  that  enables  us  to  submit 
with  humility  to  the  apparent  inequalities 
in  the  course  of  Providence  in  this  world, 
and  to  reconcile  ourselves  to  the  present 
sufferings  of  those  who  have  not  con- 
sciously or  wilfully  offended,  is  the  firm 
conviction  that  these  will  all  be  rectified 
and  compensated  at  last,  and  that  the  end 
of  all  things  will  manifest  the  equity  of 
God   in  clear  splendour. 

In  the  absence,  then,  of  any  authentic 
revelation  that  infants  will  go  into   perdi- 
tion, in   the   absence  of  any  credible  wit- 
3 


34  No  Children  Lost. 

ness  to  inform  us  that  he  has  seen  "  babes 
in  hell  not  a  span  long,"  we  assert,  against 
all  logical  and  theological  deductions,  the 
instinctive  and  inalienable  sense  of  justice 
in  the  human  heart. 

"  A  warmth  within  the  breast  would  melt 
The  freezing  reason's  colder  part; 
And,  like  a  man  in  wrath,  the  heart 
Stood  up  and  answered,  I  have  felt." 

How  could  we  believe  such  a  morally 
insane  doctrine  as  that  the  final  outworking 
of  God's  justice  will  be  to  spare  the  origi- 
nal offender  and  damn  his  helpless  chil- 
dren? For  that,  in  plain  language,  is  what 
it  all  amounts  to.  Adam  is  saved.  The 
Church  has  given  him  a  place  among  the 
saints.  Raphael  has  painted  him  among 
the  blessed  who  sit  around  the  throne, 
in  the  great  picture  of  the  DisptUa  della 
Trinita.  Dante  has  described  him  as  the 
first  in  that  happy  circle  which  surrounds 
the  mystic  Rose  of  Paradise.  From  these 
pictures  of  celestial  bliss  we  are  told  to 
cast  our  eyes  downward  and  contemplate 


No  CJiildrcn  Lost.  35 

the  miseries  of  myriads  of  Adam's  children 
who  have  been  plunged  into  eternal  tor- 
ment solely  on  account  of  his  sin.  The 
vision  is  a  dream  of  madness.  It  is  a 
nightmare  monstrosity  of  error.  Before 
I  could  believe  in  it,  I  should  have  to  an- 
nihilate my  conscience  and  commit  moral 
suicide. 

(3)  But  there  is  a  still  stronger  argu- 
ment against  the  perdition  of  infants.  It 
is  directly  contrary  to  the  principles  of 
judgment  as  they  are  revealed  to  us  by 
Jesus  Christ. 

Let  us  understand  very  clearly  that 
Christ  teaches  that  there  is  punishment 
in  the  future  world,  and  that  this  punish- 
ment is  so  great  that  it  passes  the  power 
of  human  thought  to  conceive  it.  But 
let  us  never  forget  that  He  teaches  also 
that  this  punishment  is  just  and  right- 
eous, and  that  not  a  single  stroke  of  it 
will  ever  fall  upon  any  who  have  not  de- 
served it  by  their  own  sins  and  refused  de- 
liverance by  their  own  impenitence.    Listen 


36  No  Children  Lost. 

to  His  parables  of  judgment,  and  you  shall 
hear  of  men  who  are  condemned  for  pride 
and  selfishness  and  greed,  like  Dives  and  the 
unmerciful  servant;  you  shall  hear  of  men 
who  are  condemned  for  neglect  of  duty 
and  contempt  of  God,  like  the  man  with 
one  talent  and  the  unfaithful  steward ;  you 
shall  hear  of  men  who  are  condemned  for 
hardness  of  heart,  like  those  who  minis- 
tered not  to  the  sick  and  the  hungry  and 
the  prisoners,  or  for  scorn  of  mercy,  like 
those  who  would  not  come  to  the  wedding 
feast,  and  him  who  would  not  put  on 
the  wedding  garment;  you  shall  hear  of 
men  who  are  condemned  for  rejecting  the 
prophets  and  slaying  the  Saviour,  like  the 
wicked  husbandmen.  These  all  pass  into 
darkness,  but  it  is  because  they  have  al- 
ready loved  darkness  and  lived  in  it.  This 
is  the  very  principle  of  their  judgment, — 
that  they  have  deserved  it,  they  have 
brought  it  upon  themselves.  They  are 
lost  because  they  will  not  be  saved,  be- 
cause they  are  cruel   and    rebellious   and 


No  Cliildrcti  Lost.  37 

unjust  and  negligent  and  scornful.  And 
it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  loving  and 
gracious  Christ  tells  us  of  their  perdition, 
in  order  that  we  may  know  that  we  also 
must  give  account  to  God  of  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body. 

Now,  if  you  introduce  another  principle 
of  judgment,  if  you  say  that  any  soul  may 
be  lost  for  the  sin  of  Adam,  for  not  ac- 
cepting an  invitation  which  it  could  not 
understand,  for  not  receiving  a  baptism 
which  was  never  offered,  for  not  repenting 
and  believing  before  repentance  and  faith 
were  possible,  —  if  you  introduce  any  such 
foreign  principle,  you  absolutely  cancel 
and  obliterate  the  teachings  of  Christ,  and 
leave  the  future  world  a  moral  chaos, 
dominated  solely  by  a  blind  and  brutal 
terror.  If  judgment  means  anything,  it 
means  that  this  is  forever  impossible.  If 
the  words  of  Christ  mean  anything,  they 
mean  that  not  one  helpless,  harmless  child 
will  ever  be  banished  into  the  outer  dark- 
ness by  the  just  God. 


38  No  Children  Lost. 

(4)  And  this  brings  us  to  the  fourth 
and  last  reason  for  rejecting  the  doctrine 
of  infant  perdition.  It  is  false,  because  it 
is  contrary  to  the  revelation  of  the  love  of 
God  which  is  given  unto  us  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord.  There  was  a  time  when  men 
refused  to  accept  this  revelation  in  its  in- 
tegrity, because  it  would  not  fit  into  their 
theories.  Coming  to  the  text,  "  God  so 
loved  the  world','  they  cut  it  down  to 
suit  their  logic,  and  said,  "  This  means 
the  world  of  the  elect."  But  by  the  gra- 
cious Spirit  of  God  the  darkness  of  that 
time  has  been  dispelled.  We  believe  that 
Christ  meant  just  what  He  said.  We  be- 
lieve that  God  is  love,  and  that  His  mighty 
heart  broods  over  all  the  world  with  an  in- 
finite tenderness,  willing  to  save  and  bless 
it.  Everywhere  that  love  is  flowing,  fol- 
lowing, seeking,  calling  for  its  children. 
Into  every  soul  that  does  not  refuse  it,  it 
will  come.  In  every  life  that  does  not 
reject  it,  it  will  accomplish  its  divine  pur- 
pose.    And  sooner  shall  our  hearts  learn 


No  Children  Lost.  39 

to  forget  and  hate  the  children  that  have 
nestled  beside  them,  sooner  shall  our 
hands  be  ready  to  cast  them  into  the 
flames,  than  God's  heart  shall  forget,  than 
God's  hand  shall  cast  away,  one  of  the 
little  souls  that  pass,  helpless  and  harmless, 
out  of  the  shadow  of  their  brief  mortal  life 
into  the  light  of  his  loving  presence. 

And  here,  for  to-day,  we  must  pause. 
In  the  next  sermon  I  shall  ask  you  to 
consider  the  proofs  that  all  who  die  in 
infancy  are  certainly  saved,  and  that  there 
is  a  heaven  full  of  happy  children.  But 
for  the  present  we  desire  to  make  clear, 
beyond  all  possibility  of  mistake,  our  re- 
jection of  infant  perdition. 

We  do  not  believe  that  there  are  any 
children  in  hell.  We  acknowledge  that 
men  have  taught  this  doctrine  in  the  past, 
—  men  of  all  ages  and  of  many  churches, 
but  we  do  not  accept  their  teaching.  If 
it  is  written  or  implied  in  any  creed,  we 
refuse  allegiance  to  it.  If  it  is  an  essen- 
tial part  of  any  theological  system,  we  cut 


40  No  Children  Lost. 

loose  from  it.  Out  of  the  shadow  of  that 
darkness  we  have  emerged.  And  the  light 
that  has  led  us  is  not  the  light  of  our  own 
reason,  but  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  glory  of  God  shining  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ.  At  His  manger-cradle  w^e 
have  learned  the  meaning  of  the  Gospel 
for  Little  Children ;  and  henceforth  for  us 
there  shall  come  no  haunting  terror,  no 
black  despair,  into  the  room  where  a  child 
is  dying.  If  we  must  see  the  dear  face 
grow  pale,  and  feel  the  little  hand  grow 
cold,  at  least  it  shall  be  with  a  spirit  un- 
troubled by  any  mistrust  of  God,  with  a 
love  that  is  calm,  and  still,  and  secure  of 
the  future.  All  shall  be  quiet  and  peaceful 
in  that  last  vigil  of  affection :  — 

"  We  watched  her  breathing  through  the  night, 
Her  breathing  soft  and  low, 
As  in  her  breast  the  wave  of  life 
Kept  heaving  to  and  fro. 

*'  Our  very  hopes  belied  our  fears, 
Our  fears  our  hopes  belied  ; 
We  thought  her  dying  when  she  slept. 
And  sleeping  when  she  died. 


No  Children  Lost.  41 

"  For  when  the  morn  came,  dim  and  sad, 
And  chill  with  early  showers, 
Iler  quiet  eyelids  closed,  —  she  had 
Another  morn  than  ours." 

Come  away,  then,  from  that  still  room. 
Close  the  door  softly,  and  whisper  to  your- 
self, in  the  assurance  of  a  divine  faith, 
''  Eve7i  so  it  is  not  the  zvill  of  07ir  Father 
in  Jicaveii  that  one  of  these  little  ones 
should  perish.''* 


MY   CHILD. 

I  CANNOT  make  him  dead ! 

His  fair  sunshiny  head 
Is  ever  bounding  round  my  study  chair  ; 

Yet,  when  my  eyes,  now  dim 

With  tears,  I  turn  to  him, 
The  vision  vanishes  —  he  is  not  there  ! 

I  walk  my  parlor  floor, 

And,  through  the  open  door, 
I  hear  a  footfall  on  the  chamber  stair  ; 

I  'm  stepping  toward  the  hall 

To  give  the  boy  a  call ; 
And  then  bethink  me  that  —  he  is  not  there  ! 

I  thread  the  crowded  street; 

A  satchelled  lad  I  meet, 
With  the  same  beaming  eyes  and  colored  hair ; 

And,  as  he  's  running  by. 

Follow  him  with  my  eye. 
Scarcely  believing  that  —  he  is  not  there  ! 

I  know  his  face  is  hid 
Under  the  cofiin-lid  ; 
Closed  are  his  eyes ;  cold  is  his  forehead  fair ; 


44  My  Child. 

My  hand  that  marble  felt ; 
O'er  it  in  prayer  I  knelt  ; 
Yet  my  heart  whispers  that  —  he  is  not  there  ! 

I  cannot  make  him  dead  ! 

When  passing  by  the  bed, 
So  long  watched  over  with  parental  care, 

My  spirit  and  my  eye 

Seek  him  inquiringly, 
Before  the  thought  comes  that  —  he  is  not  there  ! 

When,  at  the  cool,  gray  break 

Of  day,  from  sleep  I  wake, 
With  my  first  breathing  of  the  morning  air 

My  soul  goes  up  with  joy, 

To  Him  who  gave  my  boy  ; 
Then  comes  the  sad  thought  that  —  he  is  not  there! 

When  at  the  day's  calmx  close, 

Before  we  seek  repose, 
I  'm  with  his  mother,  offering  up  our  prayer  ; 

Whate'er  I  may  be  saying, 

1  am  in  spirit  praying 
For  our  boy's  spirit,  though  —  he  is  not  there! 

Not  there  !     Where,  then,  is  he  ? 

The  form  I  used  to  see 
Was  but  the  raiment  that  he  used  to  wear. 

The  grave,  that  now  doth  press 

Upon  that  cast-off  dress. 
Is  but  his  wardrobe  locked;  —  he  is  not  there  ! 


My  Child.  45 

He  lives  !  —  In  all  the  past 

He  lives  ;  nor,  to  the  last, 
Of  seeing  him  again  will  I  despair  ; 

In  dreams  I  see  him  now  ; 

And,  on  his  angel  brow, 
I  see  it  written,  "  Thou  shalt  see  me  there  !'' 

Yes,  we  all  live  to  God  ! 

Father,  Thy  chastening  rod 
So  help  us,  thine  afflicted  ones,  to  bear. 

That,  in  the  spirit-land, 

Meeting  at  Thy  right  hand, 
'Twill  be  our  heaven  to  find  that  —  he  is  there  ! 

John  Pierpont. 


gil  CtilHtcn  SabeU 


II. 


Suffer  i\)z  little  r!)tltiren  to  eome  unto  tne,  anti 
foriitj  tfjem  not ;  for  of  0iie|)  is  tjje  feingtiotn  of 
(3oti,  —  Mark  x.  14. 

TT  7E  have  good  reason  for  refusing  to 
^  '  believe  that  God  would  send  the 
soul  of  a  little  child  into  endless  punish- 
ment. If  we  attach  any  meaning  to  the 
words  ''just"  and  **  merciful,"  as  we  use 
them  in  speaking  of  the  Divine  Being,  they 
imply  a  character  in  God  which  must  make 
it  impossible  for  Him  to  deal  thus  with  the 
most  helpless  of  His  creatures.  It  would 
be  contrary  to  the  nature  of  God  as  He  is 
revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  would  destroy 
the  foundation  principles  of  the  divine 
judgment  as  they  are  laid  down  in  the 
New  Testament.  It  would  sweep  away  the 
very  grounds  on  which  we  accept  the  Bible 
4 


50  All  Children  Saved. 

as  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  reasons  which 
lead  us  to  worship  and  love  our  Father 
in  heaven.  For  surely  the  strongest  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  Christianity  are  those 
which  are  addressed  to  our  moral  sense. 
It  appeals  to  us  most  deeply  because  it 
answers  the  purest  and  highest  instincts 
of  our  nature,  —  instincts  of  justice,  of 
compassion,  of  goodness,  of  love.  And 
so  long  as  we  rely  upon  these  to  sup- 
port the  claims  of  Christianity,  we  are  en- 
titled—  or  rather  we  are  bound  —  to  rely 
upon  them  to  interpret  the  teachings  of 
Christianity. 

It  is  upon  these  moral  instincts,  then, 
that  we  fall  back  in  our  rejection  of  the 
horrible  decree  of  infant  perdition.  No 
logical  deductions  from  the  human  state- 
ment of  theological  premises  can  force 
us  to  accept  a  conclusion  so  repugnant  to 
the  moral  sense.  On  the  contrary,  such 
deductions  amount  simply  to  a  disproof  of 
the  principles  from  which  they  are  drawn. 
They  act  as  a  reductio  ad  absnrdum  ;  and 


All  CJiildrcn  Saved.  5  i 

we  refuse  to  believe  either  the  dogma  that 
there  is  no  salvation  without  baptism,  or 
the  dogma  that  an  absolute  and  eternal 
decree  foreordains  men  to  be  damned, 
simply  because  these  dogmas  would  lead 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  are  babes  in 
hell,  and  so  destroy  our  faith  in  the  ulti- 
mate justice  and  goodness  of  God. 

But  you  see  at  once  that  this  attitude  is 
altogether  negative.  It  sets  us  free  from 
the  falsehood,  but  it  does  not  put  us  in 
possession  of  the  truth.  ''  Remorse  of 
equity,"  as  Hooker  has  called  it,  had  driven 
many  a  man  into  this  position  even  in  the 
days  when  the  doctrine  of  infant  perdition 
was  taught  in  its  unmitigated  severity,  and 
when  the  rejection  of  it  involved  the  peril 
of  condemnation  for  heresy. 

Michael  Servetus  was  one  of  these. 
Among  the  errors  for  which  the  magis- 
trates of  Geneva  condemned  him  to  be 
burned  was  this :  he  taught  that  "  all  who 
are  taken  from  life  as  infants  and  children 
are  exempt  from  eternal  death."     And  I 


52  All  Childj^en  Saved. 

think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  this 
particular  heresy  was  one  for  which  a 
man  could  suffer  martyrdom  with  honour. 
Episcopius  also,  the  leader  of  the  Armin- 
ians,  held  that  infants  are  liberated  by 
special  divine  grace  from  the  perdition  of 
sin.  Hugo  Grotius,  the  first  and  the 
greatest  of  modern  lawyers,  uttered  his 
clear  protest  against  the  horrible  decree 
which  consigns  helpless  .children  to  in- 
evitable perdition. 

Many  others  took  the  same  ground; 
some  of  them  were  avowedly  Calvinists,but 
they  held  that  Calvin  was  not  infallible, 
and  refused  to  follow  him  beyond  the 
Word  of  God.  Among  them  was  a  man 
whose  name  is  familiar  to  all  of  us,  —  Dr. 
Isaac  Watts,  the  poet,  whose  "  Little  Busy 
Bee "  still  serves  as  an  example  to  good 
children,  and  whose  hymns  we  still  sing 
with  love  in  our  churches.  He  professed 
himself  utterly  unwilling  to  believe  that 
"  any  little  children  are  condemned  to 
eternal  misery  for  nothing  else  but  because 


All  CJiildrcn  Saved.  53 

they  were  born  of  Adam,  the  original 
transgressor."  But,  not  being  able  to  see 
his  way  beyond  this  denial,  he  boldly  cut 
the  Gordian  knot  of  their  destiny  by 
affirming  his  opinion  that  many  of  them 
at  death  are  annihilated,  and  pass  out  of 
existence  altogether.  It  was  a  daring  con- 
clusion, and  yet  infinitely  wiser  and  more 
reasonable  than  the  doctrine  of  Saint 
Augustine  or  Calvin. 

But  is  it  indeed  the  final  word  upon  the 
subject?  Is  it  not  possible  for  those  who 
hold  fast  to  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God, 
and  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour 
of  the  world,  to  go  far  beyond  the  denial 
that  there  are  infants  in  hell? 

Surely  that  is  only  the  first  step  in  the 
path  that  leads  out  of  the  darkness  into  the 
light.  The  same  principles  that  justify  us 
in  believing  that  the  little  children  are  not 
of  the  kingdom  of  Satan,  give  us  the  assur- 
ance that  they  belong  to  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Nay,  more;  w^e  have  "  a  more  sure 
word  of  prophecy  "  for  this  sermon  than  we 


54  -^11  Children  Saved. 

had  for  the  first  There  we  met  the  false 
logic  of  men  with  arguments  drawn  from 
our  own  moral  nature  in  its  response  to 
the  teachings  of  the  Scripture ;  but  here 
we  bring  the  importunate  question  of  the 
heart  in  regard  to  the  future  state  of  little 
children  directly  to  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  an  answer. 

I  will  admit  that  without  this  gospel 
we  should  be  in  the  dark.  Justice  alone 
does  not  demand  the  salvation  of  little 
children.  But  mercy  —  mercy  of  God  as 
it  is  revealed  in  Jesus  —  does  assure  their 
salvation.  Far,  and  infinitely  far  beyond 
the  best  intimations  that  natural  religion 
and  the  moral  sense  can  give  us,  —  yes, 
far  beyond  a  submissive  willingness,  to 
leave  the  fate  of  infants  in  the  hands  of 
that  God  whose  tender  mercies  are  over 
all  his  works,^  and  far  beyond  the  pious 
hope  that  they  will  be  saved,^  —  we  follow 

1  Sermons  by  President  Dickinson  of  Princeton, 
p.  205. 

2  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander's  letter  to  Bishop  Meade 
of  Virginia,  1849. 


All  Children  Saved.  55 

the  spirit  of  the  gospel  and  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  affirm  our  faith  that 
all  who  die  in  infancy  are  saved,  and  that 
there  is  a  heaven  full  of  happy  children. 

I  propose  to-day  to  set  in  order  some  of 
the  grounds  on  which  that  faith  rests;  so 
that  when  any  one  asks,  ''  What  becomes 
of  little  children  when  they  die?"  we  may 
understand  that  we  have  a  right  to  answer 
positively,  ''They  are  all  saved." 

And  first  of  all,  let  us  mention  with 
honour  the  names  of  some  of  the  great  and 
good  men  of  the  past  w^ho  have  held  this 
faith  and  expressed  it  under  difficulties. 
Ulrich  Zwingle,  the  brave  Swiss  reformer, 
who  died  at  the  head  of  his  followers, 
fighting  for  liberty  of  conscience,  was  one. 
Isaac  Barrow%  the  learned  English  mathe- 
matician and  theologian,  was  another. 
Augustus  Toplady,  whose  noble  hymn, 
"  Rock  of  Ages,"  is  a  joy  forever  to  the 
Church,  was  another.  Lyman  Beecher,  who 
stood  like  a  bulwark  against  infidelity  in 
our  country  during  the   first  half  of  this 


56  All  Childi'eii  Saved. 

century,  was  another.  And,  not  to  weary 
you  with  the  noble  names  which  now  come 
rushing  in  upon  us  in  the  full  tide  of  a 
'larger  hope,"  Charles  Hodge,  —  venerable 
and  beloved  man,  for  whose  instructions 
and  example  I  thank  God  as  one  of  the 
greatest  blessings  of  my  life,  —  Charles 
Hodge,  pillar  of  orthodoxy  and  defender 
of  the  faith,  was  another  of  those  who 
affirmed  their  belief  in  the  salvation  of  all 
who  die  in  infancy.  Before  he  passed  to 
his  reward  in  heaven,  he  bore  testimony 
that  "the  common  doctrine  of  evangelical 
Protestants  is  that  all  who  die  in  infancy 
are  saved." 

Mark  these  words.  It  is  not  an  indi- 
vidual opinion,  which  you  and  I  hold  in 
opposition  to  our  brethren.  It  is  not  a 
secret  desire  which  we  cherish  without 
reason  or  Scripture  to  sustain  it.  It  is  a 
common  doctrine,  which  we  hold  in  the 
brotherhood  of  the  faith  and  preach  as  a 
part  of  the  blessed  gospel.  The  man  who 
does   not  hold   it  is  a   modern   heretic,  a 


AIL  Children  Saved.  57 

separatist,  a  solitary,  a  belated  wanderer 
out  of  the  Dark  Ages,  a  man  born  three 
centuries  behind  his  time,  a  man  like  the 
demoniac  of  Gadara,  whose  dwelling  is 
among  the  tombs,  —  a  man  who  knows  not 
"  the  things  that  have  come  to  pass  in  these 
days."  For  the  hidden  hope  that  sprang 
up  in  the  hearts  of  a  few  disciples  in  the 
past,  forcing  its  way  like  a  trickling  stream 
through  the  crevices  of  those  massive  walls 
of  logic  which  were  built  to  dam  it  down, 
has  been  fed  by  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  until  it  has  risen  into  the 
flood  of  a  mighty  river,  sweeping  the  pon- 
derous barriers  away  like  chaff. 

No  progress  in  theology?  Yes,  thank 
God,  there  is  progress.  Not  greater  or 
more  divine  was  the  advance  when  Saint 
Paul  vindicated  the  right  of  the  Gentiles 
to  a,  place  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ;  not 
greater  or  more  divine  was  the  advance 
when  Luther  and  Calvin  and  Knox  broke 
the  chains  of  Roman  error,  and  gave  the 
Church  the  open  Bible  as  her  inheritance; 


58  All  Children  Saved. 

not  greater  or  more  divine  was  any  step 
that  the  Church  of  Christ  has  ever  taken, 
than  that  which  Hes  between  the  days  when 
venerable  doctors  of  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly believed  that  God  was  glorified  by 
many  children  of  Turks  and  Indians  crying 
and  leaping  in  hell,  and  this  day,  in  which 
we  affirm  our  common  evangelical  faith 
that  all  dying  infants  are  saved,  and  that 
God's  heaven  is  thronged  with  happy 
children. 

But  why  do  we  believe  this,  and  on  what 
ground  do  we  teach  it?  Let  us  state  the 
reasons  for  our  faith  as  briefly  and  as 
simply  as  possible. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  we  believe  in  the 
salvation  of  all  the  little  children,  because 
we  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  died  for  all 
mankind.  It  was  the  world  that  God  loved 
in  His  infinite  compassion,  and  it  was  to 
take  away  the  sin  of  the  world  that  God 
sent  His  own  Son  to  live  a  perfect  life  and 
to  taste  death  for  every  man  upon  the 
cross  of  Calvary.     This  is  the  teaching  of 


All  Child  re  Ji  Saved.  59 

the  Holy  Scripture.  To  narrow  or  con- 
fine it  is  to  do  dishonour  to  the  Word  of 
God ;  na)',  worse,  it  is  to  tie  the  hands 
that  were  pierced  upon  the  cross  with 
the  bonds  of  our  theology. 

The  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  has  an 
infinite  value  and  a  world-wide  meaning. 
It  has  a  relation  to  the  whole  human  race ; 
not  merely  a  possible  relation,  a  theoretical 
relation,  but  an  actual  relation.  It  is  be- 
stowed upon  all  mankind,  as  the  air  we 
breathe,  as  the  sun  that  shines  on  us.  It 
is  a  universal  gift.  It  is  the  light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world. 

Why  is  it,  then,  that  all  men  do  not 
receive  its  benefits  ?  Simply  and  solely 
because  they  will  not.  **  Ye  will  not  come 
to  me,"  said  Jesus,  "that  ye  might  have 
life."  1 

And  who  are  they  whose  lives  are  un- 
blessed, whose  souls  are  unsaved  by  Jesus 
Christ?     Only  those  of  whom  the   Scrip- 

1  John  V.  40. 


6o  All  Children  Saved, 

ture  clearly  tells  us  that  they  have  no  part 
in  His  kingdom ;  those  who  walk  in  pride 
and  hardness  of  heart,  unwilling  to  repent 
and  seek  mercy  at  God's  hand ;  those  who 
walk  in  iniquity,  following  their  fleshly 
lusts ;  those  who  walk  in  darkness  because 
they  hate  light ;  those  who  walk  in  cruelty 
and  oppression  because  they  despise  their 
fellow-men ;  those  who  turn  away  from 
Jesus  Christ  and  count  the  blood  of  the 
everlasting  covenant  an  unholy  thing,  — 
these  are  they  who  shall  never  enter  into 
the  Holy  City,  nor  find  a  place  in  God's 
blessed  kingdom. 

But  by  what  right,  by  what  authority 
of  Scripture,  by  what  sanction  of  Jesus 
Christ  would  you  cast  out  one  little 
child  to  dwell  among  those  wicked  ones? 
What  reason  would  God  have  for  refusing 
admittance  to  one  little  child  who  knocked 
at  heaven's  gate?  Christ  died  for  all;  and 
His  death  avails  for  all  except  those  whom 
the  Gospel  itself  excludes  from  its  benefits. 
There  is  not  a  line  or  a  word  to  shut  out 


All  Children  Saved.  6i 

one  of  the  little  dying  children.  There- 
fore Christ  died  for  them,  and  Christ  saves 
them  when  they  die. 

But  perhaps  some  one  will  say,  "  How, 
then,  do  you  get  rid  of  the  consequences 
of  the  Fall?  How  do  you  explain  away 
the  guilt  of  original  sin  which  rests  upon 
every  descendant  of  the  guilty  Adam?" 
We  do  not  explain  it  away.  We  are  will- 
ing to  accept  the  very  strongest  statement 
of  it  that  you  can  possibly  draw  from  the 
Bible;  and  the  stronger  you  make  it,  the 
more  clearly  does  it  prove  the  salvation 
of  infants.  For  not  one  word  does  the 
Scripture  say  of  the  relation  of  Adam  to 
the  race,  which  it  does  not  say  of  the  re- 
lation of  Christ  to  the  race.  If  Adam  was 
the  federal  head  of  a  fallen  humanity, 
then  Christ  was  the  federal  head  of  a  re- 
deemed humanity.  If  Adam's  transgres- 
sion brought  a  curse  on  all  mankind, 
then  Christ's  atonement  brought  a  bless- 
ing upon  all  mankind.  The  closer  you 
bind  a   child  to  his  fallen   Father  Adam, 


62  All  Children  Saved. 

the   closer   do  you   bind  him  to  his  risen 
Father  Christ.     If  it  is  true  that 

**  In  Adam's  fall 
We  sinned  all," 

it  is  just  as  true  that 

**  Christ  Jesu's  cross 
Redeem'd  our  loss." 

Turn  to  the  fifth  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  and  read  what  the  inspired 
Apostle  Paul  has  written  on  this  subject. 
It  is  an  immense  gospel,  wider  than  the 
earth  and  deeper  than  the  sea:  "So  then 
as  through  one  trespass  the  judgment  came 
unto  all  men  to  condemnation,  even  so 
through  one  act  of  righteousness  the  free 
gift  came  unto  all  men  to  justification  of 
life.  For  as  through  one  man's  disobe- 
dience the  many  were  made  sinners,  even 
so  through  the  obedience  of  one  shall  the 
many  be  made  righteous."  ^  What  inter- 
pretation can  we  put  upon  this  lan- 
guage? What  in  the  name  of  truth  and 
honesty  can  it  mean,  unless  it  means  that 

1  Romans  v.  iS,  19. 


All  Chilli  re  n  Saved.  63 

the  obedience  of  Christ  countervails  the 
disobedience  of  Adam,  and  blots  it  out 
completely?  Yes,  that  is  the  doctrine  of 
Scripture.  Original  sin  is  all  atoned  for; 
the  guilt  of  it  is  taken  away  forever  from 
the  race  by  the  Lamb  of  God.  No  living 
soul  shall  ever  perish  for  Adam's  trans- 
gression. "  For  if  by  the  trespass  of  one 
the  many  died,  much  more  did  the  grace 
of  God,  and  the  gift  by  the  grace  of  the 
one  man  Jesus  Christ,  abound  unto  the 
many."  ^ 

The  little  child  that  comes  into  the 
world  is  born  into  a  sinful  humanity,  but 
it  is  not  guilty  in  God's  sight  any  more 
than  it  is  guilty  in  your  sight.  It  is  made 
innocent  by  the  precious  blood  of  Christ, 
as  of  a  lamb  without  spot  or  blemish; 
and  if  it  passes  out  of  this  world  before 
it  has  wilfully  turned  away  from  the  mercy 
of  God,  before  it  has  chosen  sin  and  loved 
it  and  lived  in  it,  it  passes  pure  and  guilt- 
less, a  ransomed  spirit,  a  lost  child  found, 

1  Romans  v.  15. 


64  ^11  CJiildreii  Saved. 

a  beloved  child  saved,  into  the  boundless 
love  of  our  Father  in  heaven. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  we  believe  in 
the  salvation  of  all  dying  infants,  because 
it  is  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of 
Christianity  in  regard  to  the  desire  and 
purpose  of  God  to  save  every  soul  that  can 
possibly  be  saved,  and  the  vast  extent  of 
His  kingdom  of  eternal  happiness. 

These  teachings  are  not  confined  to  the 
New  Testament.  We  find  them  embedded 
in  the  prophecies  which  foretold  the  com- 
ing of  Christ.  No  one  can  read  the  Bible 
candidly  without  acknowledging  that  it 
tells  from  the  very  beginning  of  a  God  that 
delighteth  not  in  the  death  of  the  wicked, 
—  a  God  that  loveth  mercy  and  findeth  in 
judgment  a  strange  work.  Christ  came  into 
this  world  to  reveal  this  God,  —  to  show  us 
the  very  heart  of  His  heart  and  the  abun- 
dance of  His  love.  And  the  Apostles  of 
Christ  proclaimed  Him  as  a  God  not  will- 
ing that  any  should  perish. 

Now,  think  for  a  moment  of  the  pres- 


All  Children  Saved,  65 

cncc  and  power  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  who 
workcth  where  and  when  and  how  He 
pleaseth,  —  as  secret  and  as  viewless  as 
**  the  wind  that  bloweth  where  it  hstcth, 
and  thou  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh 
and  whither  it  goeth,"  —  think  of  that 
Spirit  of  life  and  love  moving  silently 
everywhere  through  the  world,  and  im- 
agine, if  you  can,  that  the  souls  of  little 
children  w'hom  God  loves,  whom  God  de- 
sires to  save,  are  lost  to  Him  as  they  flutter 
through  the  gates  of  death  into  the  other 
world.  Shall  it  be  said  of  the  sparrows 
that  '*  not  one  of  them  falleth  to  the 
ground  without  your  Father,"  and  yet 
shall  the  flocks  of  childish  souls  fly  away 
into  the  night  without  His  notice  or  His 
care?  I  tell  you,  not  one  of  those  little 
wanderers  can  slip  unseen  past  the  good 
Father  who  watches  and  waits  for  them. 

Is  there  any  spiritual  grace  which  they 
require  to  fit  them  for  the  vision  of  God? 
The  Spirit  can  bestow  that  grace  upon 
them,  even  though  they  are   unconscious 


66  All  Children  Saved. 

of  it.  Do  they  need  to  be  born  again? 
He  who  gave  them  Hfe  will  give  them  new 
life.  They  fly  from  our  arms,  not  into  the 
arms  of  darkness,  but  into  the  arms  of 
God;   and  with  Him  they  are  safe. 

If  this  were  not  true,  how,  then,  should 
we  understand  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
in  regard  to  the  immense  number  of  the 
redeemed,  and  the  measureless  population 
of  the  city  of  God?  Out  of  our  human 
race  the  vast  majority  perish  in  childhood. 
And  yet  the  promise  of  God  has  ever  been 
that  the  company  of  the  redeemed  should 
far  exceed  the  company  of  the  lost.  "Thy 
seed,"  said  He  to  the  father  of  the  faithful, 
"  shall  be  like  the  sands  of  the  seashore. 
Thy  seed  shall  be  like  the  stars  of  heaven 
for  multitude."  Countless  myriads,  more 
than  the  human  mind  can  number,  shall 
be  gathered  in  the  abode  of  peace.  The 
kingdom  of  darkness  is  a  lake,  bounded 
and  shut  in  on  every  side;  the  kingdom 
of  light  is  a  sea,  stretching  far  beyond 
our    sight,    and    dazzling    with    radiance, 


All  Child roi  Saved.  67 

into  the  horizon  which  is  infinite.  The 
voice  of  death  is  but  a  slender  note 
vanishing  in  the  nJL^ht;  the  voice  of 
praise  is  as  the  sound  of  many  waters 
rising  forever  about  the  throne  of  God 
and  the  Lamb. 

"  Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 
In  sparkling  raiment  bright, 
The  armies  of  the  ransomed  saints 
Throng  up  the  steeps  of  light." 

And  how  shall  that  ever  be,  how  shall 
the  number  of  the  redeemed  immeasura- 
bly surpass  the  number  of  the  lost,  unless 
that  great,  silent,  helpless  majority  of  the 
human  race  who  die  in  childhood  shall  be 
gathered  among  the  blessed  in  God's  king- 
dom ?  In  those  mighty  throngs  there 
will  be  countless  little  saints,  born  in  pain 
on  earth  for  a  moment  that  they  might 
live  in  joy  in  heaven  forever.  In  that  vast 
anthem  of  increasing  praise  there  will  be  a 
part  set  for  children's  voices,  —  a  part  that 
none  could  sing  save  those  whose  only 
music  had  been  learned  from  the  angels. 


68  All  Children  Saved. 

Do  you  remember  Raphael's  picture  — 
the  Sistine  Madonna?  The  cloud  against 
which  the  holy  child  Jesus  and  his  mother 
are  revealed  seems  at  first  sight  to  be 
only  a  celestial  vapour;  but  as  you  look 
at  it  more  closely  you  see  that  it  is  com- 
posed of  beautiful,  shining  infant  faces. 
It  is  no  poet's  dream;  it  is  a  reality. 
The  very  air  of  heaven  is  populous  and 
radiant  with  happy  childhood.  That 
which  the  prophet  wrote  in  his  ancient 
vision  of  the  earthly  Jerusalem  is  true  of 
the  City  of  God :  **  The  streets  of  the  city 
shall  be  full  of  boys  and  girls  playing  in 
the  streets  thereof" 

3.  In  the  third  place,  we  believe  that  all 
little  children  pass  through  the  door  of 
death  into  the  heaven  of  God,  because 
Jesus  Christ  has  taught  us  that  they 
belong  to  heaven.  Hearken  to  His 
words :  — 

"  At  the  same  time  came  the  disciples  unto 
Jesus,  saying.  Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven? 


All  Chilli  re  n  Savcil.  69 

"  And  Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  him,  and 
set  him  in  the  midst  of  them, 

"  And  saitl,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  ye 
be  converted,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye 
shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  licaven. 

"Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  himself 
as  this  little  child,  the  same  is  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

"  Take  heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  lit- 
tle ones  :  for  I  say  unto  you,  That  in  heaven  their 
angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  ^ 

"  And  he  sat  down,  and  called  the  twelve,  and 
saith  unto  them,  If  any  man  desire  to  be  first, 
the  same  shall  be  last  of  all,  and  servant  of  all. 

"  And  he  took  a  child,  and  set  him  in  the 
midst  of  them  :  and  when  he  had  taken  him  in 
his  arms,  he  said  unto  them, 

"  Whosoever  shall  receive  one  of  such  chil- 
dren in  my  name,  receiveth  me  :  and  whosoever 
shall  receive  me,  receiveth  not  me,  but  him  that 
sent  me."  ^ 

''And  they  brought  young  children  to  him, 
that  he  should  touch  them :  and  his  disciples 
rebuked  those  that  brought  them. 

1  Matt,  xviii.  1-4,  10.  '^  Mark  ix.  35-37. 


yo  All  Children  Saved. 

"  But  when  Jesus  saw  it,  he  was  much  dis- 
pleased, and  said  unto  them,  Suffer  the  httle  chil- 
dren to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not :  for 
of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 

"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  AVhosoever  shall  not 
receive  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child, 
he  shall  not  enter  therein. 

"  And  he  took  them  up  in  his  arms,  put  his 
hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them."  ^ 

I  have  said  that  our  Master  taught  that 
the  little  children  belong  to  heaven.  It  is, 
indeed,  too  little  to  claim  for  His  teaching. 
For,  as  we  look  more  closely  at  that  four- 
teenth verse  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  St. 
Mark,  we  see  that  the  words  "  of  such " 
stand  in  the  original  in  the  genitive  of 
possession.  And  this  is  the  glorious  truth 
that  leaps  out  to  meet  us :  '*  The  king- 
dom of  God  belongs  to  such,"  It  is  the 
children's  inheritance,  their  possession, 
their  kingdom.  Not  one  soul  shall  ever 
enter  it  who  does  not  come  as  a  little 
child,  nor  shall  one  who  comes  as  a  child 
fail  to  obtain  an  entrance. 

1  Mark  x.  13-16. 


All  Chi  I  (I re  ft  Saved.  71 

With  these  gracious  words  we  may  rest 
our  case;  and  so  we  come  to  the  end  of 
our  two  sermons  on  the  state  of  Httle  cliil- 
drcn  after  death.  It  is  a  task  tliat  has  been 
before  my  mind  through  many  months. 
I  have  studied  and  longed  and  prayed  for 
strength  and  opportunity  to  accomplish  it, 
—  to  proclaim  clearly,  and  to  prov^e  cer- 
tainly out  of  the  Word  of  God,  that  there 
is  not  a  single  infant  in  hell,  and  that 
heaven  is  thronged  with  happy  children. 
And  if  any  one  shall  ask  why  I  have  cared 
so  much  about  this,  and  taken  so  much 
pains  and  time  to  do  it,  let  me  give  him 
a  simple  and  straightforward  answer. 

It  was  not  for  the  sake  of  casting  any 
reproach  upon  those  teachers  of  the  past 
who  have  failed  to  read  this  doctrine  in 
the  Bible.  It  would  be  a  strange  thing  if 
we  could  not  reverence  the  wise  and  good 
men  who  have  gone  before  us,  even  while 
we  recognize  that  they  were  finite  and  fal- 
lible. It  would  be  a  strange  thing  if  we 
could   not  cling  to   the   heritage    of  truth 


72  All  Children  Saved. 

which  they  have  left  us,  all  the  more 
firmly  because  we  do  not  hesitate  to  pu- 
rify it  from  the  errors  of  a  deceptive  human 
logic.  If  we  see  a  little  farther  into  the 
Bible  than  they  did,  it  is  not  by  our  own 
light,  but  by  the  illumination  which  God 
gives  like  the  growing  day ;  and  that  should 
never  make  us  proud,  but  humble  and 
grateful,  and  willing  always  to  wait  upon 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 

Nor  was  it  for  the  sake  of  making  you 
think  less  of  the  justice  and  sovereignty  of 
God  that  I  desired  to  preach  these  ser- 
mons. On  the  contrary,  it  was  to  make 
you  think  more  of  those  great  doctrines, 
and  to  think  of  them  not  blindly,  but  with 
open  eyes.  God  is  infinitely  just,  and 
therefore  the  same  judgment  which  con- 
demns you  and  me  for  the  evil  that  we 
have  done,  justifies  and  saves  the  little 
child  that  has  never  done  evil.  God  is 
absolutely  sovereign,  and  therefore  He  can 
and  will  save  all  those  who  do  not  despise 
and  reject  his  mercy. 


All  Children  Saved.  73 

But  there  were  just  three  reasons  why 
my  heart  was  constrained  and  nii<;htily 
impelled  to  preach  this  gospel  about 
children. 

First,  in  order  to  make  it  easier  for  you 
to  love  God.  If  any  one  of  you  has  ever 
thought  of  him  as  an  impassive,  supreme, 
iron-willed  Monarch  whose  arbitrary  de- 
cree sends  immortal  souls  to  death  or  to 
life  solely  and  equally  for  His  own  good 
pleasure  and  glory,  banish  that  thought 
forever  from  your  mind.  Learn  to  think 
of  Him  as  the  great  Father  whose  nature 
and  whose  name  is  Love.  Even  as  the 
sunlight  embraces  and  encircles  the  whole 
earth,  so  does  His  love  embrace  and  en- 
circle all  humanity.  Night  comes  only 
when  we  turn  away  from  it;  day  comes 
when  we  turn  toward  it.  It  is  our  duty 
to  love  God  because  everything  in  Him  is 
supremely  and  perfectly  lovable.  That  is 
salvation,  —  to  love  God  and  our  fellow- 
men  even  as  Pie  loves  us.  And  surely  if 
anything  can   help  us  to  do  that,  it  is  the 


74  -^l^  Children  Saved. 

thought  of  His  infinite,  unceasing,  everlast- 
ing care  and  tenderness  for  the  Httle  chil- 
dren who  suffer  and  die   on  earth. 

The  second  reason  why  I  have  longed 
to  preach  this  truth  to  you  is  in  order  that 
it  might  lead  and  draw  you  upward  into 
a  better  life.  There  are  some  of  you 
whose  little  children  have  been  taken  away 
into  a  happier  world ;  and  yet  you  are 
still  living  without  God  and  without  hope, 
living  in  sin  and  impenitence,  living  with- 
out a  personal  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  or  an 
open  acceptance  of  Him  as  your  Saviour. 
Oh  that  the  memories  of  human  love  might 
bring  you  into  the  kingdom  of  the  divine 
love !  that  you  might  be  called  by  a  still, 
small  voice  —  the  voice  of  a  little  child 
—  out  of  a  careless,  sinful  life  into  the 
life  that  leads  to  heaven !  that  you  might 
learn  to  say  w^ith  David,  "  I  shall  go  to 
him,  though  he  may  not  return  to  me !  " 
Then,  indeed,  you  would  come,  penitent 
and  heart-broken,  to  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and 
cry,  *'  Lord,  thou  art  the   Good  Shepherd 


All  Children  Saved.  75 

of  my  little  lamb ;  be  also  the  Shepherd 
of  my  soul  forever,  and  bring  us  together 
in  thy  heavenly  fold." 

There  is  one  more  reason  why  I  have 
longed  to  preach  and  prove  to  you  the 
salvation  of  the  little  children.  It  is  for 
consolation  and  comfort.  The  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  sad  tidings;  it  is  glad 
tidings.  It  is  sent  to  bind  up  the  broken- 
hearted, to  give  them  the  oil  of  joy  for 
mourning,  and  the  spirit  of  praise  for  the 
garment  of  heaviness.  If  there  is  any 
place  where  we  need  this  comfort,  it  is  at 
the  death-bed  of  little  children.  To  see 
them  suffer,  —  so  timid,  so  frail,  so  helpless  ; 
unable  to  express  their  pain,  or  tell  us  what 
we  can  do  to  aid  them ;  and  yet  often  so 
brave  in  their  silent,  childish  heroism,  — 
that  tries  our  courage  and  our  faith  even 
to  the  uttermost.  There  is  nothing  that 
can  sustain  us,  there  is  nothing  that  can 
console  and  quiet  us,  when  the  bright 
presence  has  vanished,  and  the  little 
voice  is   still,  save  the  thought  that   God 


76  All  Children  Saved. 

has  taken  His  own  again,  and  that  the 
brief  sorrow  is  changed  into  an  eternal 
joy. 

"There  is  a  Reaper,  whose  name  is  Death, 
And  with  his  sickle  keen 
He  reaps  the  bearded  grain  at  a  breath. 
And  the  flowers  that  grow  between. 

"  He  gazed  at  the  flowers  with  tearful  eyes, 
He  kissed  their  drooping  leaves  ; 
It  was  for  the  Lord  of  Paradise 
He  bound  them  in  his  sheaves. 

*' '  My  Lord  has  need  of  these  flowerets  gay,' 
The  Reaper  said,  and  smiled  ; 
*  Dear  tokens  of  the  earth  are  they 
Where  he  was  once  a  child.* 


And  the  mother  gave,  in  tears  and  pain, 
The  flowers  she  most  did  love  ; 

She  knew  she  should  find  them  all  again 
In  the  fields  of  light  above. 

Oh,  not  in  cruelty,  not  in  wrath. 

The  Reaper  came  that  day ; 
'T  was  an  angel  visited  the  green  earth, 

And  took  the  flowers  away." 


THE   THREE   SONS. 

I  HAVE  a  son,  a  little  son,  a  boy  just  five  years 

old, 
With  eyes  of  thoughtful  earnestness,  and  mind  of 

gentle  mould. 
They  tell  me  that  unusual   grace  in  all  his  ways 

appears, 
That  my  child  is  grave  and  wise  of  heart  beyond 

his  childish  years. 
I  cannot  say  how  this  may  be  ;  I  know  his  face  is 

fair  — 
And  yet  his  chiefest  comeliness  is  his  sweet  and 

serious  air  ; 
I  know  his  heart  is  kind  and  fond  ;    I   know  he 

loveth  me; 
But  loveth  yet  his  mother  more  with  grateful  fer- 
vency. 
But  that  which  others  most  admire,  is  the  thought 

which  fills  his  mind, 
The  food  for  grave  inquiring  speech  he  everywhere 

doth  find. 
Strange  questions  doth   he  ask   of   me,  when   we 

together  walk  ; 
He  scarcely  thinks  as  children  think,  or  talks  as 

children  talk. 


78  The  T J  tree  Sons, 

Nor  cares  he  much  for  childish  sports,  dotes  not  on 

bat  or  ball, 
But  looks  on  manhood's  ways  and  works,  and  aptly 

mimics  all. 
His  little  heart  is  busy  still,  and  oftentimes   per- 

plext 
With    thoughts    about    this    world    of   ours,   and 

thoughts  about  the  next. 
He  kneels  at  his  dear  mother's  knee  ;  she  teacheth 

him  to  pray ; 
And  strange,  and  sweet,  and  solemn  then  are  the 

words  which  he  will  say. 
Oh,  should  my  gentle  child  be  spared  to  manhood's 

years  like  me, 
A  holier  and  a  wiser  man  I  trust  that  he  will  be  ; 
And  when    I   look  into   his  eyes,  and  stroke  his 

thoughtful  brow, 
I  dare  not  think  what  I  should  feel,  were  I  to  lose 

him  now. 

I  have  a  son,  a  second  son,  a  simple  child  of 
three ; 

I  '11  not  declare  how  bright  and  fair  his  little  fea- 
tures be, 

How  silver  sweet  those  tones  of  his  when  he  prat- 
tles on  my  knee; 

I  do  not  think  his  light-blue  eye  is,  like  his  broth- 
er's keen, 

Nor  his  brow  so  full  of  childish  thought  as  his  hath 
ever  been : 


The   Three  Sons.  79 

But  his  little  heart's  a  fountain  pure  of  kind  and 

tender  feeling ; 
And  his  every  look  's  a  gleam  of  light,  rich  depths 

of  love  revealing. 
When  he  walks  with  me,  the  country  folk,  who  pass 

us  in  the  street, 
Will  shout  for  joy,  and  bless  my  boy,  he  looks  so 

mild  and  sweet. 
A  playfellow  he  is  to  all  ;  and  yet,  with  cheerful  tone 
Will  sing  his  little  song  of  love,  when  left  to  sport 

alone. 
His  presence  is  like  sunshine  sent  to  gladden  home 

and  hearth. 
To  comfort  us  in  all  our  griefs,  and  sweeten  all  our 

mirth. 
Should  he  grow  up  to  riper  years,  God  grant  his 

heart  may  prove 
As  sweet  a  home  for  heavenly  grace  as  now  for 

earthly  love. 
And  if,  beside  his  grave,  the  tears  of  aching  eyes 

must  dim, 
God  comfort  us  for  all  the  love  which  we  shall  lose 

in  him. 

I  have  a  son,  a  third  sweet  son  ;  his  age  I  cannot 

tell, 
For  they  reckon  not  by  years  and  months  where  he 

has  gone  to  dwell. 
To  us,    for   fourteen   anxious   months,    his  infant 

smiles  were  given  ; 


8o  The  Three  Sons. 

And  then  he  bade  farewell  to  Earth,  and  went  to 

live  in  Heaven. 
I  cannot  tell  what  form  is  his,  what  looks  he  wear- 

eth  now. 
Nor  guess  how  bright  a  glory  crowns  his  shining 

seraph  brow. 
The   thoughts   that   fill  his  sinless  soul,  the  bhss 

which  he  doth  feel, 
Are  numbered  with  the  secret  things  which  God 

will  not  reveal. 
But  I  know  (for  God  hath  told  me  this)  that  he  is 

now  at  rest, 
Where  other  blessed  infants  be,  on  their  Saviour's 

loving  breast : 
I  know  his  spirit  feels  no  more  this  weary  load  of 

flesh. 
But  his  sleep  is  blessed  with  endless  dreams  of  joy 

forever  fresh. 
I  know  the  angels  fold  him  close  beneath  their  glit- 
tering wings, 
And  soothe  him  with  a  song  that  breathes  of  Heav- 
en's divinest  things. 
I  know  that  we  shall  meet  our  babe  (his  mother 

dear  and  I) 
Where  God  for  aye  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 

every  eye. 
Whate'er  befalls  his  brethren  twain,  his  bliss  can 

never  cease; 
Their  lot  may  here  be  grief  and  fear,  but  his  is 

certain  peace. 


The  Three  Sons.  8 1 

It  may  be  that  the  tempter's  wiles  their  souls  from 

bliss  may  sever ; 
But,  if  our  own  poor  faith  fail  not,  he  must  be  ours 

forever. 
When  we  think  of  what  our  darling  is,  and  what  wc 

still  must  be  — 
When  we  muse  on  that  world's  perfect  bliss,  and 

this  world's  misery  — 
When  we  groan  beneath  this  load  of  sin,  and  feel 

this  grief  and  pain  — 
Oh,  we'd  rather  lose  our  other  two,  than  have  him 

here  again  ! 

John  Moultrie. 


The  End. 


■■'■■r:-:..-yy;-i>.--^:M.fF 


'^1 


